Primary: Utah has a mixed primary system, with Republicans having a closed primary and Democrats having an open one. Both parties hold conventions prior to the primaries.

Voter registration: Voters had to register to vote in the primary by October 7, or October 22 in-person. For the general election, voter registration deadlines are October 7, and October 22 in-person.[2]

Candidates

Note: Election results were added on election night as races were called. Vote totals were added after official election results had been certified. For more information about Ballotpedia's election coverage plan, click here. If you find any errors in this list, please email: Geoff Pallay.

Republican primary

In the April 21 Republican convention, delegates selected incumbent Orrin Hatch and former state Senator Dan Liljenquist as the top two candidates. In the second round of voting, Hatch failed to receive the necessary 60 percent of the vote to receive the nomination,[7] so Hatch and Liljenquist went on to battle in the June 26 primary.[8][6] Hatch won the primary.[9]

Prior to the primary, Hatch stepped up his game, spending $10 million on the campaign and gathering endorsements from top Republicans including Governor Gary Herbert and Senator Jon Kyl from Arizona. A photo-op with Mitt Romney was seen as a great boost, as well, with a FreedomWorks for America member commenting: "Romney has a 90 percent-plus approval rating in Utah, and he’s come out for Orrin Hatch. So you can’t really touch that. It is hard."[10]

Liljenquist was seen as offering an alternative for "voters who blame the lifers in Washington in both parties for the fiscal mess."[11] In the lone debate between the two candidates, the challenger asked Hatch, "Do you feel at all personally responsible for the debt crisis in Washington?"[11]